Three points, but one to forget, would be my usual reaction to a game like that especially at this stage of the season. But is was such a lacklustre performance, again. It really is a good job that our run in is as easy as it is, bar the derby of course, because the way we are playing we at the moment, anything harder and we'd be struggling.
The first half was completely forgetable, the only moment of note the goal, that really came out of nowhere. From Fulham's point of view they must been really disappointed to have lost the game to such a soft goal after coming to get everybody behind the ball and make themselves hard to break down. They succeeded for 42 minutes and then made a right mess of defending Ashley Young's innocuos cross. Jonny Evans did well to put the ball into the path of Rooney who kept his goalscoring run going and the Ulsterman was probably our best player though there wasn't much competition for thatparticular prize last night.
United did up there game to an extent in the second half but couldn't get the elusive second goal that would have put the game to bed.
Even Valencia was quiet last night but he nearly gave us the cushion we craved with a good chance at the beginning of the second half but Schwarzer was equal to the challenge. United had other chances in the second half but never really threatened to pepper the visitors goalmouth. Which then led to an anxious last ten minutes or so. I'm not sure why Fergie took Rooney and Welbeck off, i haven't read anything about injuries. It left us with no one up front to keep hold of the ball which meant the ball kept coming back at us, i would have brought Berbatov on.
I have to admit live at the game last night i didn't think the Carrick challenge on Murphy was a penalty, TV pictures after showed that it probably was. We got out of jail with that one. Blackburn may be near the bottom of the table, but if we give a performance like that Ewood at next Moday it will make for very uncomfortable viewing.
Ian Herbert reckons that City are trying a little too hard to tell the world they are enjoying the pressure of the title run in after there 1-1 draw at Stoke on Saturday. It's been clear for a while to me that there away form is probably going to cost them the chance of the title. I actually thought this was one of their easier away gamea left. I know a game at Stoke can't usually be described as easy, but Stoke haven't had the best season and haven't troubled to the top six or seven as much as they have. To my mind Norwich, Newcastle and obviously Arsenal are tougher away games.
It does seem to be the case that they are choking, it's not like United are really playing that well, in fact if we were under real threat it would have been interesting to see how we would have coped. When you get to the end of a season you generally get games away home that you thought would be three point bankers that tend to be anything but, real hundred mile an hour games. If there is one thing we have seen over the last couple of seasons it's that United are not at the best in those situations. I suppose getting knocked out of all cup competetions should mean that there will not be any excuses on that score.
All in all Saturday was a pretty good day for us with City dropping two points. Liverpool hitting a new nadir this season with their 2-1 defeat at home to Wigan who by all accounts deserved it and Chelsea being caught up by Newcastle. I don't want Chelski to get that fourth spot, because that will surely have Abramovitch wondering whether the rent boys project is really still worth it.
Now to hopefully push the gap to three points tonight against a decent Fulham side who none the less could turn into cannon fodder if the team go into the game with the right attitude. If Valencia carries on last weeks form that goal difference could be wiped out by the end of tonight.
Alan Hansen wrote this morning that it didn't matter how many times you had won the league this was still the part of the season when you became a nervous wreck. He reckons Mancini has got to banish all thoughts and talk of tiredness from his vocabulary. I may be wrong but i just don't really see Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Rooney and co being nervous, i get the feeling that this is what it's all about for them. I'd be interested to hear Gary Neville's reaction to that.
Daneil Taylor looks back at Berbatov's Manchester United career which hit the heights at times but never really when it mattered. But contrasts the way he will leave the club to the exit of Carlost Tevez.
The Telegraph profile the rise of Danny Welbeck and discover that just like Giggs he was at City before the big Manchester club came in for him. He has been excellent for United this season, he's even done reasonably well at outside left in recent weeks, even though through the middle is obviously where he is at his best. I suppose that would be good news for the Glazer's too, after all his value would go up, though i doubt Madrid would be Danny's dream club.
I'm not much of a fan of international football and can't rally see England doing much this summer, but i am hoping that he shows his best United form in an England shirt inthose games before Rooney's return from suspension because that won't do United any harm as he would come back with his confidence on cloud 9.
Le Roi talks about his time after United in the Observer with a new film coming out in France, Switch and a second successful career established. He has quite a acting CV and to be honest i have hardly seen any of it, bar Looking for Eric of course.
The headline don't get any better for Cameron and the tories, i'm not sure why the Sunday Times should be going after them so hard, i thought they were one of his few real admirers. It's gloves off with Rupert by the looks of it, how fitting it should be a ideologically small goverment that should have to deal with the aftermath of hackgate and by the looks of it open warfare with News international. Does Dave have the balls to take the fight back, does he even want to.
The tories can be as defensive as they want but George Eaton reckons Cam will have to publish a list of donor dinners. The tories competence meter seems to have took a battering over the last week or so, any more and they will be entering John Major territory and then it won't be can they win a majority next time or even carry their coalition with Lib cems through to the next parliament it'll be how many seats can they save.
Unsuprisingly the budget got a hostile press form the liberal press yesterday, Will Hutton savaged it just as heavily as Larry Elliott and William Keegan repeated his mantra that George Osborne is the most dangerous chancellor he has known. Keynes biographer Robert Skidelsky argued once more now is not the time for cuts, austerity is for the boom years not the slump.
Blairite John Rentoul who i'm presuming was an admirer wonders what on Earth Osborne was thinking though just like all of his fellow travellers he seems to conced the right's case that the 50p top rate brought in little when the evidence for that is so clearly non existant.
Even his fellow cutters on the right weren't impressed, amongst all the furore over the 50p tax rate cut and the granny tax, the fact that cutting the deficit seems to get pushed back budget after budget with no inroad from their point of view is winning him no friends from that quarter either. Who ever bought into this curious fallacy that he was a master startegist, must be wondering what on Earth happened.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Interestingly a pretty good piece profiling Antonio Valencia, on the official site, if not the man who has made United tick, this season and indeed ever since he came to the club. We shouldn't forget United's excellent end of season form co-incided with his return to the side after his lengthy lay off. It was just a pity about that last game against Barca at Wembley. I'll bet he would love us to have a good run in the champions league next season so he gets the chance to meet them again and put that right.
One thing that article about how Barca will hopefully make clear to Fergie is he can't go into the next game with any passengers. One thing that stood out was how Barca attack any player whose first touch isn't the best. I'm afraid Park sprung to mind straight away, though to be fair that night he wouldn't have been on his own.
But back to Valencia, it seems like an age ago now that Fergie was baffingly playing him at right back, i mean really what was that all about. How good would it be if we could have somebody on the left playing as consistenly good as that. We seriously would be worth watching then.
Park has apparently ruled out returning for South Korea in this summer's olympic games. To be honest that suprises me because he retired from international to save himself for club football, but he hasn't actually played that many games this season. I can't think Fergie would have been that bothered one way or other what he does in the summer. Providing Cleverley and Pogba manage to stay fit next season, there is not really much reason to think he will get that much more game time next season.
Mark Ogden writes that United's proposed Singapore IPO may be put back to the autumn, meaning United will not be able to compete at the top end of the transfer market come the summer. Is any of that a suprise, even if they did manage to pull it off who is to say how much Fergie would see anyway. It still fighting with one hand tied behind your back, which proves once again what ridiculous rules we have regarding buying and selling football clubs.
John Pilger on privatisation down under style, and a Labour government doing it's bit for big business. What makes me laugh about the budget debate and the furore over the NHS is how many naive fuckers think it will be all different if Labour had not lost power at the last election or regain it at the next. Granted it probably will not be as bad as at present but it won't be that different.
Who began the privatisation of the NHS, the Blairites Against scant resistance from the public sectors supposed defender Brown. And who can forget Brown budget tax faux pas over the abolition of the 10p tax rate in order to please the "deserving middle".
Bill Ryder-Jones - If: I knew Ryder-Jones from the Coral but hadn't really followed anything he had done on his own before so his debut solo album came as a bit of a suprise. Whilst it's a million miles away from The Coral and what i had expected, it is actually pretty good. Written as soundtrack to a novel it makes an excellent whole, with it's disparate musical styles.
Delicate Steve - Wondervisions: Another mainly instrumental album this time veering towards a modern prog rock and another cracking album, with every listen it just gets better. I can't wait for the follow up to this.
Jah Wobble & Julie Campbell: Manchester's Lonelday teamed up with former PIL bassist Jah Wobble to create a completely different sounding album to her debut, it's possibly even better. With Wobble's distinctive bass to the for from the off, this is another belter.
Katy B - On a mission: Not my usual taste obviously, but it's actually very good. A mixture of today's successful commercial dance style's, it rises above saccharine chart music to keep your feet tapping whilst the music stays interesting.
The Black Keys - El Camino: This got rave reviews when it came out and it deserved them it is the proverbial dogs ... I have never really got into these i heard one of their first albums and thought it was ok but not as good as the hype. This is even better than the hype.
Tommy McCook- Blazing horns and tenor: A superb piece of reggae/dub from the legendary Skatalite saxophonist McCook. I really could listen to this all day.
Captain Nemanja Vidic belives that United are favourites to retain our championship if you look at our run compared to City's. Despite rumours a while ago that he could play some part in the run in, the plan is to be back in training for July for the start of next season. After all our defensive troubles this season it's to be hoped he is fully over the injury.
I had expected Rio Ferdinand to move on this summer and whilst there must still be a fair chance that will happen, it's not the sure bet it was. So the last thing we need is for the Serbian to come back and to start to show signs of wear and tear as he hits the early 30's.
Nicky Butt warns Paul Pogba that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, but hopes his appearances from the bench recently mean that Pogba and Fergie have patched up their differences and Pogba is now commited to the United cause.
Paul Pogba played last night in as strong a reserve team as has been seen in ages with Jones, Smalling, Fabio and Cleverley stepping down to gain match time i presume. I also wonder whether it was to get some of them used to playing with each other for the future. It was no suprise then that it was a reasonably one sided game with United running out 3-1 winners.
It didn't take United that long to take a 2-0 lead. They hadn't actually done that much up to that point, but once they got the goals and they were two crackers from Will Keane and Jesse Lingard they played some really good stuff. It was interesting to watch Matty James who has spent so long out injured alongside Cleverley and Pogba, he looked pretty good.
Going off this mornings Fergie press conference i wonder if Pogba might even start on Monday night, as he said he was took off because he will definitely play some part against Fulham. If he is to make a start this season it will have to come sooner rather than later, i'm presuming the game time he has all of a sudden started to get is an effort to keep him at the club for the long term.
The Mail link us with Crystal Palace's right back Nathaniel Clyne, i don't really understand this to be honest, we have how many players who can play right back. If we have a limited amount of money to spend, which we must assume to be the case, right back can hardly be a priority. To be honest when i saw him last season, which wasn't much i'll be honest he never really stood out that much for me, he certainly didn't look that much better than what we have got.
Speaking of which Fergie came out with a pearler this morning about Viera's suggestion that Scholes return and Morrison's departure showed a hint of desperation. I suppose it was an open goal, but he certainly lifted the roof of the net off with his response. It was a more humourous response than the press have made out since, which made it all the better.
A fascinating article from Simon Kuper about Barcelona's unique style of play and what makes it work. They are a great team, as good as i have seen, if not the best, but i do have a problem with some of that. That's more regimented than i would ideally ever want to see United play, i don't think George Best would have fancied playing in such a regimented system of play. It doesn't allow for anything off the cuff, in fact i still wonder how much Messi makes it work as magnificently as it does.
Without him i'm sure the tactics that Mourinho used with Inter to knock them out in 2010 and which Chelsea were unfortunate to be knocked out in the 2009 would probably workd against them far more often. Seeing as he very unlikely to leave Camp Nou any time soon, unless he has a bad injury, which as a football fan i hope doesn't, we aren't going to find that out any time soon.
Oh dear George Osborne was getting it from all sides after Wednesday's budget, as ConHome Editor tweeted yesterday his reputation of being the tories master strategist just took a hammering after seeing the morning after budget headlines.
One of Osborne's original Plan A supporters, Jeremy Warner of the Torygraph asks does Plan A actually still exist. Gary Gibbon's suspicion is that Grannygate will be a short nasty storm that will eventually pass, he may be right, though he seems to be in a minority. I suppose it depends whether his friends in the press turn out to be fair weather friends who though they probably agree with the 50p tax rate cut, know they can't sell it to their readers. Robert Peston blogs on why Osborne found it easier to pensioners than rock starts. He did find some support from the liberal conservative economist columnist Bagehot who described it as a Notting Hill budget. Peter Oborne seems to admire its risky nature but worries he may have buried the tories chances at the next election.
Larry Elliott doesn't generally do invective, but i presume that budget so disgusted him, he let the coalition have it with both barrels. David Blanchflower wonders whether it might be Osborne's last, now two years after taking power it has to take ownership of the mess they have created. He also lambasts the OBR, whose credibility he describes as in tatters, that is surely an absolute certainty and i'm suprised more hasn't been made of that. If Labour do regain power at the next election will they abolish it or reform it, it certainly hasn't covered itself in glory.
Unsuprisingly Richard Murphy wasn't impressed either and blogged his overview of the elephant traps laid in it.
Paul Krugman notes the snag with US conservatives economic receovery narrative with a graph comparing Keynesian US post crash recovery with conservative austerity Britain.
It seems that just as New Labour seemed to have a soft spot for Manchester, helping our recent renaissance, the coalition seemed to have decided that Manchester is to be their poster boy city, if the special treatment we were given in the budget is anything to go by. Liverpool, Birmingham and the rest must spitting in their corn flakes. It sounds like the lobbying Jim O'Neill and others have been doing on behalf of the city have borne fruit.
This piece by Damien McBride explaining the process through which budget's were arrived at was re-tweeted all day yesterday, but it is absolutely fascinating.
Will last night's Newsnight scoop signal the death knell for A4e if proven true, which i throrougly expect to be the case.
I have gone on record at how little i care for the plans of L.C.C.C ground's redevelopment, but it seems to be coming along well at the moment. That view next to the new media centre behind the bowlers arm, now the wicket has been turned round 45 degrees looks very interesting, especially high up on the second tier, i will have to give that at least a try when it's fully developed.
Forget the scoreline yesterday was a more a case of how bad the home team have become than how good United were. The first half an hour United were really poor, the passing was off and yet again the play was far too slow and pedestrian. Fortunately Antonio Valencia was back and that was the reason United were able to take advantage of the sending off that left Wolves down to ten men, bereft of confidence and facing the reigning champions.
United barely created a thing in the opening exchanges despite having the majority of possession. Rooney carried on his recent schizo form where he manages to be brilliant one minute and average the next, he should have pur Hernandez through twice in the opening stages only to totally mishit the pass. How he won the man of the match award was a mystery to me, if we had a man of the match, it was surely our man from Ecuador.
The opening goal came out of nowehere, and was proof, i'm afraid of why Wolves must now be favourite to go down. The marking to allow Carrick a free header at the back post was bad enough but the room Jonny Evans was given to slot in the opening goal was criminal. Whem Zubar then proceeded to get a second yellow and an early bath you knew it was going to be our day.
The second goal was the best move of the day as for once United injected some pace into their play to remind us of days of yore as Rooney produced his best moment in the match was a brilliant first time pass that Valencia ran onto and eventually finished off in a manner that makes you wonder why he doesn't score more. Not that i'm complaining when he creates as many goalscoring opportunities as he does. Not long after Valencia received a magnificent cross field pass from Evans that Scholes would have been proud of to cross accurately for Welbeck who hit the third, a welcome return to the goalscoring for our recent left winger. It's not really his best position, but he's a better bet there than Park, that's for sure. Of course the third meant he was free to roam where he wanted, which is basically what he does anyway when we have the ball.
I hoped United would come out for the second half gunning for more goals, Gary Neville tweeted that this would indeed be the half time talk that Fergie would deliver. Despite the fact that we scored two more it didn't really happen. If you'd have taken Valencia off there would have been no urgency at all. The fourth saw Wolves defend as badly as they had for the first with Hernandez given the freedom of the penalty area to head home a set piece. Valencia then proceeded to skin his man again to set up the fifth for Hernandez and you began to think that we might overturn City's superior goal difference in one go. But United once again took their foot off the pedal and to to be fair to Wolves they rallied to try and keep the scoreline from becoming even more embarrassing than it already was.
So United have done their job, now we await City's clash with the rent boys, now that is a "massive match", which i wouldn't like to predict. A draw would be almost as good as a Chelsea victory is what i will say.
Ahead of the coming title battle ex red Paul Parker predicted that European elimination would affect United least and he fancies us to regain the title.
Ian Herbert wrote what we all know this team is a work in progress, the cliched "team in transition", but European elimination will hurt Fergie he argues. Another not so shocking revelation is that United will allow Berbatov to leave, the most interesting part of that interview was the revelation that Fergie wants to inject more pace into the team as he rebuilds. I'm presuming he means more pace in our play as much as individual speed, the football at the moment is way too pedestrian, Europe has shown that United and English football generally is falling behind. Gary Neville argued at the weekend that we shouldn't worry too much about English clubs failure in Europe this year, but if it happened again next season, it couldn't then be dismissed as a blip.
To be honest the football this season has been pretty poor, look at yesterday, United were nothing really and yet they won 5-0. Apart from the first month and the spell that included the 5-0 defeat of Fulham at Craven cottage there hasn't been much to get excited about. There isn't much of a buzz when you go to the game, nothing that gets you out of your seat, not much fantasy. I was more excited about going to see the Youth cup semi against Chelsea on Friday.
Talking of which i thought they were unlucky to get beat on Friday, but unfortunately they did bring it on themselves. They didn't start playing until about an half hour into the game and then after the equalised and looked to most likely team they gave the ball away badly and their lad up front scored a brilliant goal. Still if Van Velzen had tucked that sitter away late in the game the game would be all square for the second leg. It's not all over, Chelsea led 3-2 from the first leg last year and got turned over, but of course we were at home in that second leg.
As i had hoped and expected Mat Daehli was the stand out player fro United, his close control, darting runs and obvious football brain augur well for his future at United. Others to impress were James Wilson, though i was suprised to see him start up front on his own, if he can beef up a little bit he could be some player. Once again the keeper Sutherland impressed, he made some great saves during the Charlton game and again he made a blinder of a save in the second half. Blackett looks promising, though i'm not sure whether left back or centre half will be his position. The new lad Pearson had a pretty fair game for someone who hadn't played for ages.
Duncan Castles belives that whether City win the title or not, Mancini is safe in his job as the owners regard him as one of the top five managers in world football. Whilst Sam Wallace wonders if City's owners are monitoring Jose Mourinho's position in Spain. I don't think he'll leave Real, but if he does Tottenham seems to be the rumour when or if Redknapp departs. The main piece of that is interesting, i like the way the Germans are reacting to the news. They seem to be in the right on this issue, pity about the Eurozone though.
Talking of which Jonathan Freedland penned a piece about Germany, Europe's relcutant Goliath, i know what he means, but i'm not sure the Greeks will quite see it like that.
Selling England by the yen, George Eaton thinks Cameron is brave in looking at road pricing, but insists that what he is proposing isn't road privatisation. Jonathan Portes believes it could be a good idea but believes it's all about the pricing, but argues that Cameron's analogy with water privatisation is a bad one. It won't be a vote winner, i think we can be sure of that.
Robert Peston aks whether China will own our roads, just what would be the point of that, the last two paragraph's are intriguing though, i like the sound of that. Far too sensible for a tory led government to enact that, i mean who'll get rich out of that. Will Hutton warned in yesterday's Observer that if Britain is to recover, we must embrace new models of capitalism. Not much chance of that with the flat earthers we've got in charge at the moment, free market fundamentalists.
Frasier Nelson writes about our part time chancellor and the man behind him Rupert Harrison, you have to wonder how happy his party are with this, he's an even more political chancellor than Brown was.
Matthew D'ancona wonders whether that little red box contains the coalition's finest hour, as he says this will be a very political budget or as fiscally neutral.
I've never been much of a fan of Marina Hyde's column in the Guardina but this article, London, the most grotesque city in the world is absolutely on the money. Ken or Boris what a choice, global scumbags, who London is all too happy to live there and contribute zilch.
Having read Harold Evans memoir of his time at the Sunday Times last weeks revelation that Thatcher held a secret meeting with old Rupe before he bought the Times and Sunday Times isn't exactly s suprise. Yet one more Thatcherite legacy history won't regard kindly.
Another embarrassment and bar the last twenty mintes United were really trying to pull that game around, whilst i don't think that was the strongest team we could have played, i reckon Fergie thought it might be strong enough. So what lessons are to be learnt from this tie, never mind being not far behind Barca we would be struggling to be on the same level as the seventh placed team in La Liga. What i saw last night was that United, as against Barca couldn't live with a team that pressed us us as hard the Spaniards do high up the pitch, we can just never find a rhyhm against it. It does seem a super human level peak of fitness to keep up mind, but it exposed our slow paced game which i mentioned on Sunday.
Maybe we are at a similar moment when the premier league's pace and power started to dominate the champions league, this time with the Spanish adding that to their superior technique. Whatever it's hard to see a premier league club, never mind United lifting a champions league trophy over the next few years if we don't find an answer. Of course United and Chelsea have the double disadvantage of having ageing key players. Last night showed once again that Ferdinand really is in the twilight of his game. I love Ryan Giggs and he wasn't as bad as some last night, but he really shouldn't be starting in games against the likes of Barca and Bilbao at this stage of his career. I'm not blaming Park for the defeat, but once again as against Barca what did he bring to the table last night. It's not as if work rate is any better than those around him. He really is looking like another player whose best days are behind him. I have a feeling that Fergie knows this, he hasn't really played much this season. But i suppose "commercial" reasons will keep him at the club.
As for the game Bilbao made a strong start as expected but United managed to live with them just about. We could have done without giving away such a soft goal, although i suppose we were fortunate to not have already conceded after Bilbao had hit the post and managed to make a right horlicks of the follow up chance. United responded with their best spell of the game and as we went in at half time i seriously thought they had ran out of steam and United might have a chance in the second half.
Oh dear i got that well and truly wrong, they came out and absolutely murdered us and if they had taken their chances the scoreline would have been a far more sorry affair. The run for the full back where he beat three men only to put it wide was like fantasy football. They are some team that is for sure, i'd like to think they would keep hold of their players for a couple of years and earn that champions league spot so we can see how they would fair in that competition, that would be fascinating. Needless to say they are on a completely different level to anything we have played in the champions league over the last couple of seasons aside from Barcelona. I had the misfortune to see part of Inter's second leg against Marseille earlier in the week and that was indesribably poor.
There weren't any real plus points to take from the game apart from maybe Rooney's effort and goal and the experience that some of the younger players will hopefully take from the game. I suppose Cleverley getting through 90 minutes was pleasing though this game came a bit earlt for him so i will not be judging him on this showing. At one point last night i was thinking well at least City are going to suffer an ever sorrier exit from the competition with the undoubted pressure that would have heaped on the club. But i suppose that late fight back will have given them a little lift, another moral victory, they're still going to end the season trophyless mind.
Fergie won't be feeling sorry for himself, and is looking forward to Sunday's game at Molineux. As Tim Rich says, there will be no picking and choosing now for either Manchester club. There won't be much room for tinkering with the squad either, apart from Sunday it must be best team available gets picked, which will probably put some noses out of joint.
Fergie is impressed by the hardest work rate of any team in Europe wo can't half play a bit as well and thinks and hopes that they go on to win the trophy.
We have got the FA Youth cup semi final ist leg tie against Chelski at Old trafford tonight to take our mind of last night. I'm not sure what to expect tonight, results wise, but if we see them play the style of football we saw against Swansae and Charlton i can't ask for any more. I was as excited at that performance at Swansea as i have been of anything we have seen from the first team this season and that includes that blistering start. The passing, movement, first touch and as important as any of that the speed they perform all that is what you hope that some of these youngsters can eventually transfer into the first team one day.
Fergie noted the fitness of Bilbao last week in their out performing of United in that 3-2 victory and thinks whilst it will be different for them to produce that again, we must presume that this is what we will face once again. I'm still not sure United' players or manager are taking this competition as seriously as they have been maintaining in the press, but it seems tonight we will see a strong eleven picked, so tonight will be interesting at least.
I can't see beyond a 4-3-3 formation tonight, but as to who will fill the three midfield spots, Carrick aside i have absolutley no idea. Will Cleverley play, Scholes, Giggs? And then who will play in those wide spots, Valencia has travelled but will he be fit. Valencia may be saved for later in the game and Fergie start with Young and Welbeck either side of Rooney. One thing is for sure, if Park occupies either flank i'll take we would take going out as long as aren't embarrassed.
David McDonnell claims that forget the treble, if Fergie can guide United to a 20th title this season, edging out the challenge of oil backed City it will be his greatest triumph in the Mirror. It will be some feat, that is for sure, given the lack of a quality midfielder attracted to the club over the last few years and even more so given the unblievable amount of injuries sustained this season. Even more so losing our best defender just when he was probably needed more than ever with Ferdinand not the player he was, a new goalie who inevitably has taken time to bed in and a squad containing more than a sprinkling of young talented but experienced defenders.
But it seems to be every other year that we challenge for the title now somebody pops up to say that if we go on to win the title it will be Fergie's greatest achievement. It's become boringly cliched, and we all know the treble will never be beaten anyway. The title was regained in a challenge against a top top Arsenal side, the FA cup was won the hard way for the most part and the Champions league run involved games against Barca, Inter Milan, Juve and Bayern three times. It will never get any harder or better than that. To put that in context does anybody really think the present United could get anywhere near emulating that feat, laughable really.
Forgotten man Anderson could be out for the rest of the season, would he get a game if he were fit shows you how much we have missed him. If Pogba really is going to stay and has been told he is first team material, where will that leave Anderson in the pecking order.
It will be interesting to say the least to see how our midfield develops next season. Will Fletcher return or will the Glazer's force him out, will Cleverley stay fit for any reasonable stretch of games, will Pogba force his way into the shake up and will Fergie be allowed some pocket money to try and compete with Europe's un debt laden money bags elite.
The latest Red Iss claimed that Eden Hazard had been promised regular first team action if he chooses Spurs this summer. If that is true, and if United were involved in the race to sign him, i'd have to say at his age he would be mad to turn them down. That would seem to be the perfect move for him, especially if they clinch that third spot. Though i would be worrying about their chanes of that if were Tottneham right now.
Jonathan Wilson writes that City need to believe to keep their title challenge on track, claiming that they haven't really done a lot wrong. There have been rumours around that if Mancini doesn't bring the title to the Etihad he will be gone in the Summer. That would of course be ridiculous, and so let's hope it's correct that City's owners follow the Abramovitch model of how not to run a football club. Of course that would be totally fitting for a club of City's historical ineptitude.
The results coming out of the capital this week haven't been great news for City's hopes of keeping the pressure on us during the title run in. Not that i was particularly happy myslef about either of them, i certainly don't want Chelsea to somehow contrive a top four finish.
Israeli author David Grossman argues that it is Israel's fears, not a nuclear Iran that Israeli citizens must tame. That is an excellent realist take on how any sensible Isralei should approach the challenges that face their country.
Boy George and his coalition's economic startegy get another thumbs down as another credit ratings agency puts them on negative outlook, giving the presnt ratings a 50/50 chance of being lowered.
Bank of England policymaker looks forward to a world without banks claims Sky's Ed Conway after a speech he gave in New York.
If this happens it will just show ideologically bankrupt the tories are, because they will have proved they have learned nothing since 2008 and cling to the old truisms like soviet Marxists after 1991. No way should we be selling that off for a loss when that could be RBS could be used in so many constructive ways.
Music
Dum Dum girls - Only in dreams: US musician Dee Dee and her her all female backing oufit deliver the goods on their second album. This really is pretty good.
Fionn Regan - 100 acres of Sycamore: An artist whose influences derive largely from the late sixties and early seventies delivers an album that wouldn't have been out of place coming from one of the greats of that epoch. Think Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake and your getting the picture.
Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds we sow: Fleetwood Mac frontman with another very listenable solo album. I missed his last solo effort but i loved the previous disc Under the skin, this isn't as good as that, but it'll do.
Sun Ra - The futuristic sounds of Sun Ra: I really do love out there jazz and Sun Ra was as out there as anybody. This is before he really headed for outer space but still not for every one.
The Rapture -In the grace of your love: Whilst they never really got near bettering their second album, they have still been consistently worth a listen and this is another tasty morsel from New York indie/dance act.
Willie Tee - I'm only a man: Another lost masterpiece redicovered in Mojo's review section. From the New Orleans scene, but this solo album from the turn of the 60's to 70's produced by David Axelrod whose stuff i love covers a wider range of styles tha the usual New Orleans mix.
A pretty hum drum game and performance, but no him drum afternoon as City's slip up pushed United to the top of the table as we are about to enter squeaky bum time. It looks like City have skid marks already, i have to say i fancied Swansea to do us a favour, but i didn't expect them to outplay the berties. It was slightly surreal for me to see us go top on a day of another fairly pedestrian performance. We haven't really played well for a bit now and yet we are top, that title challenging know how doesn't half count it would seem.
As expected West Brom were well organised and hard to penetrate but United didn't really help their own course with the slowness and lack of purpose in their approach play. Our best player during the first twenty minutes was Danny Welbeck who whilst starting on the right hand side seemed to have licence to roam and made some great weaving runs that never quite led to anything. After slagging Young off after the last game, praise where it's due to the former Villa winger who had his best game for a while and who took his man on and got to the byeline helping earn us the second half penalty that clinched the game. More consistent performances like that please, he will have to anyway with Valencia waiting in the wings and Nani still to come back.
We had a spell of games just before christmas where we were making really good starts to games and cashing in with early goals. After five minutes yetserday you knew this would be no romp. You couldn't really see a goal coming, and when it did it came after Rooney re-directed Hernandez's shot past Foster. The goal saw out first real piece of sustained pressure, but we couldn't get the second which would have killed them just before half time.
It was one of those days for Hernandez in fornt of goal as he hit the post early in the second half and on another day he could have bagged a hatrick. When Olsson picked up his second yellow the game became a bit of a stroll as United picked the ten men apart. The penalty won by Young was converted by Rooney who is one of his goal glut's at the moment. That should really have been the start of a rush of goals but United had left the goal scoring boots in the changing room as the conspired to miss chance after chance.
It was nice to see Clevrley come on and look a bit sharper than he has on his previous re-appearances and i'd like to say it was nice to see Pogba take the field, but i don't really know what to make of that. Their were rumours that he was in the squad for the game on Saturday night and hopes that maybe he had signed a new contract after all, but all Fergie would say after the game was that the boy was undecided.
Still when the cheers went round after news filtered through of Swansea taking the lead, all was misses were forgiven. I could be being a bit previous, but it's hard not to think that yesterday was the day the title swung decisively in our favour.
Fergie tells the press that United will hold their nerve and that we are over our injury crisis, well the way this season has gone it fingers crossed on that last part. Mancini thinks that the derby will be a title decider, he hopes more is more like it, there are a few tricky matches for them before Monday April 30, that could even be the game where we are actually crowned champions if they collapse. Fergie also said he had set Rooney a target of 40 goals for the season, he should be careful the last time he did that he did his ankle at Bayern and we all know what happened then.
Ashley Young states the obvious claiming the pressure is on City, also less obviously he claims United's home form will be the key to making it title number 20.
I can't say i was very confident ahead of this game and i know i wasn't alone, but i can't say i was expecting such a chasing. The late penalty tucked away by Rooney flattered United to put it mildly, 3-1 was a far truer reflection of the game. We knew that the Basques were a good side and they certainly showed that last night, but i have never believed the protestations from the club that they are taking this competition seriously. The evidence has been in front of our eyes for the first three games with one average performance to put alongside two stinkers.
The way we have played in this competition so far it's hard to see United winning by the two clear goals that they will have to get next week even with that last gasp penalty. To be honest i won't be too upset at an early exit, but that doesn't mean i want to go and see completely outclassed as were were last night especially in the second half.
It really has been a jeckyl and hide season, you just never know which United are going to turn up, let's hope the right United turn up on Sunday. Let's hope too that Antonio Valencia is back Sunday or soon because i feared when he limped off in Amsterdam that we would miss him badly. Without him we have looked short on creativity, in fact even when he was playing brilliantly i was worried just how much we relied him. Because basically all we were doing was just giving him the ball and waiting for him to skin his man and put the ball on a plate for the forwards.
On paper Park on one wing and Ashley Young didn't look particularly threatning to the opposition and unfortunately it wasn't just on paper as both players were pretty innocuous. I'm afraid i am sadly coming to conlcusion that the £15 million we payed Villa for Ashley Young wasn't the best piece of business we have ever done, especially since we don't seem to have a pot to piss in. He just isn't good enough, he scores the occasional classy goal as he did at White hart lane but his contribution to the match and our attack is pretty limited. He seems to be a wide man who doesn't even take his man on never mind beat him, i knew he favoured cutting inside whilst at Villa, but i assumed he occasionally took his man to the byeline. Well i got that wrong, i think i can probably count on the fingers of one hand how many times he has actually beat his man on the outside.
As for Park well, well he was Park you know he is'nt going to be giving his full back a roasting as he will be cutting inside. But as agaist Barca at Wembley against top quality opposition he is just a passenger. I'm not blaming him, but unfortunately for him his name has happened to be on the teamsheet for a fair number of our games to forget this season.
Our home record in Europe this season is truly appalling, Played 6, won 1, drawn 2 and lost 3. When you take into account that the Romanian team were one of the worst we have seen in the champions league it really stinks. I take what Gary Neville has said today about this season being a learning experience and how United struggled at times in Europ in the mid 80's but we were never as bad as we have been this season. And where we generally got found out then was away from home not at Old trafford.
I',m not thrilled to have to admit it but i don't thin 4-4-2 is working very well for us in Europe, especially with as unsettled and inexperienced a central midfield we have to cll on this season. With a young defence and a new goalie to bed in, they aren't really getting the protection that they were always going to need. I am a fan of Jones in midfield but it didn't work for him last night, and really with Giggs next to him that wasn't ideal.
I have to say going up to the Ajax game i was pretty confident that if we could get the three points at White hart line that we would have a great chance of the tiltle. But after Sunday and last night's performance my confidence has dimmed a little
Fergie admits that we Bilbao outplayed us last night but feels that we can gain revenge over there next week. Well i suppose he has to say that and he has to belive it too. He also told the press that he may have to re-asses how United approach European football tacttically in future, sounds like 4-4-2 may be on its way out again. Our only problem there will be fitting Valencia into a 4-3-3 because he was born to play right wing in a 4-4-2, which is a worry as he is our main creative outlet. Problems.
Jim White ponders United's home fallibillities in Europe this season and is concerned at our inability to handle fast counter attacking teams. I'm not certain i'd go along with that, my concern is that we don't and seem unable to control games. It's the middle of the park again.
So it seems it really is bye bye Paul Pogba, i'm not really sure what to make of this whole episode to be honest. He looked very promising last season in the youth team, though not as good as Morrison and maybe Will Keane. But during the first part of the season, when playing for the reserves when the injuries started to bite and people wondered why he wasn't being called up the first team, his form frankly didn't warrant in my eyes.
Then all the rumours started and our injuries reached crisis point to the point that Scholes returned, but he still he wasn't called up. His performance in his fifteen minute cameo at home to Stoke was promising, more so than i had expected. But had he done anything to warrant the wages he was demanding, no chance. So it is suprising to read Andy Mitten write that Fergie actually ended up offering him the same wage as Juventus but not the £2 million that the agent will receive. After that i really do not know what to think, except footballers wages in general are a disgrace. They should be in the doghouse with the bankers really, when everbody else is struggling to get by the sport just takes the piss.
But my final footballing thought on the matter would have to be, you reap what you sow, we knicked from Le Harve and Juve have done the same to us, United can't really cry. I would be more than happy if left poaching yongsters from other clubs alone. But then we recently poached Perraira from PSV and supposedly he is the dogs bollocks, supposedly. You can't really win. It has made me wonder just where the club is heading though, is it as happy a ship as it has been.
Giggs and Scholes are still a smash hit as United aim to replicate AC's golden oldies
Andy Mitten profiles the troubled Gerard Pique, I saw the sending off and it looked very harsh to me. I have to admit every time i have seen Barca this season he has played pretty well, i must have missed the poor performances.
Peter Oborne thinks the finest government in a generation will be over before they year 2013 is out. It has started to seriously look that way, thankfully, where do you start with that description though. It's whole economic startegy has been a total disaster, meaning the whole raison d'etre of the coaltion has been wrong.
I've absolutely no idea how we came out of that 90 minutes with a 3-1 victory, but i'll take it. The first half was an embarrassment, i couldn't believe we we could play so badly in such an important game. I heard Fergie blame himself for that first half performance, saying he got his tactics wrong, playing deep and try to get Tottenham to come on and catch them on the break. That's a reasonable excuse up to a point, but it doesn't really explain our poor passing or inability to create anything.
So how did we come out of it with that scoreline, decent defending, another good performance from De Gea and probably the main reason was that it was a good day to be playing Spurs who were without Bale, Van Der Vaart and Parker.
The first half really was bad, from about 20 minutes in, i couldn't wait for half time to come, so Fergie could lay into them. Though to be fair for all the Tottenham possession and pressure they didn't really create much. The problem was United created even less and did not looking likely to create anything. So that goal from Rooney on the stroke of half time really was a bonus, coming from absolutely nowhere.
If we thought that would gee United up we were wrong as United started the second half just as badly and Spurs once more were on the front foot.
And then 15 minutes into the second half United found themsleves 2 goals up as the home team went to sleep Walker losing Nani who crossed for Young to fire a fine volley home. It has to be said that Young had disappointed again for the majority of the game, yet he came up with two great goals. When he picked up the ball for the third goal i fancied him to finish it off, i don't know why because when you see the replay you realise what a cracking goal it was.
It was only really after that when United started to dominate the game. It was a pity about the home sides late goal but given the way the game had gone you can't really get too upset at it. We have got a great run in now, i wouldn't be suprised if United are top of the table by the time we visit the boo camp next month. Though the way this season goes anything could happen i suppose. It will be nice to get Valencia back, we haven't half missed him the last couple of weeks.
Alan Hansen reckons that United's easier run in and title chasing experience just gives us the edge in the title run in. I think Villa Boass sacking was yet another ridiculous decision from Abramovitch, but it was probably timed to perfection for us, given the fact that certain players obviously weren't trying for the ousted manager. That Chelsea game just got that much harder for the blues.
I see most pundits are linking Mourinho to the job, to which the only response can be, why the fuck would he want to leave Real Madrid for Stamford bridge and Abramovitch. I suppose stranger things have happened but i really can't see that happening.
Dvid Blanchflower argues that unemployment isn't funny and accuses Osborne of playing politics instead of trying to get the economy growing again.
Robert Peston blogs on last week's embarrassing unpaid tax debacle, Mervyn King isn't very happy about the behaviour of our banks. Richard Murphy wants to shatter some myths surrounding the Telegraph 50p tax rate letter. Robert Skidelsky continues to call for a British investment bank telling the tories tax cuts and printing money aren't enough.
Rooney will be back for Sunday's Tottenham clash after his, ahem, throat infection, is anybody that suprised to hear that he's trained all week. I always felt he was rested last week and that Pearce or even Capello if he had still had been in charge would have wanted to look at other striking options with Rooney missing the first two games of this summer's tournament.
I thought United did alright at Norwich without him, but it will great to have him back and hopefullt firing for this vital game.
Fergie thinks that TV scheduling will not trouble United, but will be new to City and wonders how they will react to it. I can't see the Chelsea game being re-scheduled, they might not even still be in the cup by then.
Paul Wilson had asked earlier in the week if Sir Alex Ferguson is United's biggest advantage in the title race as the pressure starts to crank up a notch as we enter March and the beginning of squeaky bum time. That and the return to an almost fit squad makes that a yes, if Vidic wasn't out for the season, i would be uber confident, but there's always that nagging doubt about us at the back. Thankfully after tomorrow there is only the game at the boo camp to really test us in that department.
Wednesday saw United compete in the quarter finals of the FA Youth cup at Old trafford against Charlton Athletic and what a game it was. United were more the more skillful outfit but with the majority of them eligible to play in next years competition as well they are always liable to be up against it physically.
Twice United took the lead, towards the end of the first half and with quarter of an hour to go and both times the lead only lasted a minute. United were unable to play Charlton off the park as they had Swansea and the away team gave as good as they got and after they had equalised the first time should have taken the lead minute later.
United had their moments of good possession and troubled Charlton with their excellent passin movements but never managed to dominate the midfield as they did against Swansea. United's goalie Sutherland needed to be on his mettle and unlike youth teams of the last few years our goalie was one of the stars of the show. The outfield to most catch my eye was Daehli. he had an excellent game in the last round, with his use of the ball and his ability to not give ti away cheaply. On Wednesday he continued that good work but added some fine runs both dribbling with it and off the ball as well. He seems to have grown a little which doesn't half help, he was pretty small the first time i saw him. He is definitely a player i will be keeping my eye on, he seems to have a bit of everything.
United were fortunate that the oppostion went down to ten men four minutes from the end through injury after they had made all the substitutions. But to be honest from that moment it was really the away team who looked like winning as players went down like flies with cramp on both teams, Charlton's big fast lad up front Sho-Silva threatened to win it on his own. But United's last great move saw them nick it three minutes from the end of the ten minutes of injury time as Wilson finished off Van Velzen's fine pull back. A 3-2 win may have flattered them but given their size and speed it was a cracking performance and even at youth level and not just this year, United never know when they are beaten.
So Chelsea over two legs in the semi final again, if they can get through that, i have no idea how good Chelsea are, they must have a great chance of adding to United's record number Youth cup wins.
Ahead of Sunday's game United's engine room gets the one over from Saturday's papers, with Guardian profiling the quiet cog in Manchester United's engine room and Mark Ogden tipping Paul Scholes to carry on next season. I can definitely see Scholes giving another season, why give up when you can give the perormances he has recently. Fergie has been going out of his way to praise Carrick recently, justly so he has been magnificent since christmas, not that he'd done anything wrong before that.
De Gea will be placed on a strengthing programme to help him bulk up similar to the programme developed for Hernandez last season in an attempt to help him adjust to the robustness of the English game.
Peter Schmeichel has been impressed with De Gea and thinks he can become as good as Joe Hart, who he believes is one of the best around. He is another who sees United's know how being a big advantage in the forthcoming title countdown.
The Mail report that United are to take up the clause in Berbatov's contract to keep him for another season meaning that he will be here next season. That could of course be interpreted as meaning that he will leave in the summer and that the Glazer's will receive some much needed wonga for him. I would lean to that, but for knowing what will happen to Owen. He must surely be on his way this time, what's the point of him, he's never fit, never mind not being good enough. Which would leave us with four fit strikers, and if we were to suffer the injury problems we have suffered everywhere else in the squad this season, they would all be needed.
So i'm not sure what will happen, i had hoped that Josh King would have a good loan season and come back to be a back up part of the squad next season because i really rated him. Bu it's not happened for him, with his injury and lack of games he hasn't progressed at all. It's hard to know where he is in the pecking order now.
It sounds like Darren Flecther must have been reading the last Red Iss as he popped up to remind the press he is still here last week and working hard to try and overcome his illness to resurrect his United career. The word on the street claimed that the Glazer's bean counters were on the case and wanted proof that they won't be paying for another passenger ala Hargreaves. I'm afraid that was what i expected to happen, i was always amazed they let the Hargreaves saga drag on to the end. Given the length of time that Flecther has been at the club and service he has given, he deserves better than this though. If they do terminate his career, we will know how tight things are financially.
Andy Mitten reckons United are losing the battle to keep Paul Pogba, i hope he's just using journalistic license to use the Vierra analogy, because i have never reall see that. He sums it up perfectly at the end though, he does owe us nothing, but that doesn't mean he's making the right decision for his career.
Richard Flannagan asks how did such a flawed man such as Kevin Rudd ever become prime minister of Australia. James Rose describes last week as the strangest of recent Australian political history and claims that we have only just reached the first commercial break.
Racehl Polonsky aks if Putin has now become a national joke as he becomes a more openly and widely mocked figure ahead of the forthcoming Russian presidential elections. You can only hope that this is the beginning of the end of the alliance between the old security service and oligarchs and their ongoing state thievery.
I suppose the ousting of that corrupt regime could be bad news for the city of London and maybe London itself, there's a lot of corrupt Russian money salted away there.
Carol The Dressmaker MASH Series 3 Walking the Himalayas The Night Manager
What i'm listening to at the moment
Bobby Womack - My Prescription Corb Lund – Things That Can’t Be Undone David Bowie - Blackstar Ethan Johns & The Black Eyed Dogs – Silver Liner Joanna Newsom - Divers Ty Segall – Emotional Mugger
A 50 YEAR OLD MANCUNIAN. I HAVE BEEN WATCHING UNITED SINCE MY DAD STARTED TAKING ME WHEN I WAS ABOUT 8 OR 9. A SEASON TICKET HOLDER, BUT DON'T KNOW FOR HOW MUCH LONGER, THANKS TO THE GLAZER DEBT.OTHER INTERESTS INCLUDE MUSIC,CRICKET,RUGBY LEAGUE,HISTORY AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
